Loans

UCSB participates in the Federal Direct Loan program. Funds for the Direct Loans are provided by the U.S. government directly to students. These loans have low interest rates and do not require credit checks or collateral. Direct loans also provide a variety of deferment options and extended repayment terms.

We strongly encourage students to use the Financial Awareness Counseling available through the Department of Education’s student loans site. This tool can be a great help for students to manage their finances and student-related debt.

Federal Direct Student Loan

All Direct Loans are either subsidized or unsubsidized. With subsidized loans, interest does not accrue until after students graduate or leave school. To receive a subsidized Direct Loan, you must have financial need.

With unsubsidized loans, interest begins to accrue after the first disbursement. We recommend that students make payments on the interest while they are in school to reduce the total loan balance at the point of graduation.

Many students combine subsidized loans with unsubsidized loans to borrow the maximum amount permitted each year.

The interest rate for Federal Direct Student Loans depends on when the loan was first disbursed. Visit the Federal Student Aid Interest Rates for information about current and past rates. Interest rates are determined each spring for new loans being made for the upcoming award year, which runs from July 1 to the following June 30. Each loan has a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.

The Department of Education charges an "Origination fee" on all Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans. The loan fee is a percentage of the loan amount and is proportionately deducted from each loan disbursement. See the Federal Student Aid Loan Fees for the current percentages.

How to Apply

To apply for either the subsidized or unsubsidized Federal Direct Loan, you must:

Repayment for Subsidized and Unsubsidized Direct Loans begins six months after a student leaves school or drops below half-time enrollment. Information about your loans is submitted to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), which is the database where you may view your entire federal loan history. Please visit NSLDS to view your borrowed loan amounts, disbursement dates, and who your federal loan servicer is as well as their contact information. The federal loan servicer is assigned by the Department of Education, and they handle matters related to billing and repayment of your loans. If you have questions about changing your repayment plan, loan consolidation, or if you qualify for loans forgiveness, please talk to your servicer.

We suggest you utilize Federal Student Aid’s Repayment Estimator while you are in school to see approximately how much a month you will owe post-graduation.

UCSB Loan

The UCSB Loan is awarded to undergraduate students who are California residents, considered on time FAFSA or CA Dream applications and who demonstrate sufficient financial need.

You can expect to receive an email from webmaster@ecsi.net within 1-3 business days after accepting the loan.

It may take up to 5 business days for this information to be uploaded into our system after completing the loan requirements.

Once all loan requirements are met and logged into our system, your loan will credit to the BARC account.

Interest Rate and Repayment

The interest rate for the UCSB Loan is 5%. The interest does not accrue until repayment begins. Repayment begins nine months after the student graduates, leaves school, or drops to less than half-time.

Exit Requirements

When you leave UCSB, you must complete the UCSB Loan Exit Counseling. You should expect to receive an email notification from ECSI with instructions on how to complete this requirement.

CA Dream Loan

The California Dream Loan Program provides eligible undocumented AB 540 undergraduates with the option to borrow loans to help cover the cost of attending UC.

To be eligible for the CA Dream Loan students must have financial need and be enrolled at least half time at UCSB.

Through the CA Dream Loan Program applicants may receive a maximum of $4,000 per academic year, however offered amounts will be determined from year-to-year based on funding. Additionally, applicants can receive a maximum of $20,000 in CA Dream Loans at UCSB throughout the duration of their academic career.

You can expect to receive an email from webmaster@ecsi.net within 1-3 business days after accepting the loan.

It may take up to 5 business days for this information to be uploaded into our system after completing the loan requirements.

Once all loan requirements are met and logged into our system, your loan will credit to the BARC account.

Interest Rate and Repayment

The CA Dream Loan's interest rate matches the Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan interest rate for the given academic year. For 2018-2019 that rate is 5.05%. Interest will not accrue on the loan as long as the applicant maintains a half-time enrollment status (between 6-8.9 units). Once the applicant graduates, or ceases to be half-time, there is a 6-month "grace period" before repayment begins. For additional information regarding the CA Dream Loan Program, visit the University of California website.

Parent PLUS Loan

Unlike the federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans borrowed by students, the Parent PLUS loan requires a credit check that is valid for 180 days. The parent is notified immediately after applying whether they are approved or denied. If the credit check leads to a denial, parents have 3 options:

Obtain an endorser who does not have an adverse credit history. An endorser is someone who agrees to repay the Direct PLUS Loan if you cannot repay it.

Document to the satisfaction of the U.S. Department of Education that there are extenuating circumstances related to your adverse credit history.

Have your student apply for additional Direct Unsubsidized Loan funds instead of taking action on the PLUS. If you wish to go this route, please have your student submit to our office the Request for Additional Unsubsidized Loan form found in the Forms tab of our website.

With either option 1 or option 2, you also must complete “PLUS Counseling” for PLUS loan borrowers on the www.StudentLoans.gov website.

Interest Rate and Origination Fee

The interest rate for Federal Direct PLUS Loans depends on when the loan was first disbursed. Visit the Federal Student Aid website for information about current and past rates. Interest rates are determined each spring for new loans being made for the upcoming award year, which runs from July 1 to the following June 30. Each loan has a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.

The Department of Education charges an "Origination fee" on all Direct PLUS Loans. The loan fee is a percentage of the loan amount and is proportionately deducted from each loan disbursement. See the Federal Student Aid Website for the current loan fee percentages.

How to Apply

To apply for a Federal Direct PLUS Loan, you must:

Talk with your student about the amount of PLUS loan eligibility shown on their Financial Aid Award Letter, available through your student’s My Aid Status

Visit www.studentloans.gov and log in with the parent’s FSA ID and password. Please make sure you are not logging in with the student’s FSA ID

Click “Apply for a PLUS Loan”. You will be asked for the amount you would like to borrow – please refer to the student’s Financial Aid Award Letter as mentioned above

Disbursement

While applying for the loan, parents will be given two disbursement options:

STUDENT(recommended): If you indicated on the application that you want the money to go to “the student", then the PLUS funds will credit to the student's BARC account. Those funds first pay any university fees and the remaining amount is then "refunded" to the student. The earliest these funds will be released to the student is 10 days before the start of the quarter.

BORROWER: If you chose the "me" (the parent borrower), one of the following options will occur:

If the loan’s quarterly amount is less than your student’s BARC balance at the time of disbursement, the loan may be paid to the student’s BARC account.

If the loan’s quarterly amount is more than the BARC balance, UCSB will send the entire loan amount to you, the parent borrower, via paper check in the mail. These checks are not mailed until after the quarterly fee payment deadline with the BARC Office. Please ensure that your student’s BARC account is paid or deferred prior to the payment deadline.

In order to receive your funds in a timely manner, we strongly encourage you to select the “student” disbursement option. If you chose “me” but would like to change the disbursement method to “student”, you can complete our Parent PLUS Loan Adjustment Form found on the Forms tab of our website.

Repayment

Repayment begins 60 days after the final disbursement of the loan. During the application process, a parent can also choose to defer repayment until 6 months after the student graduates or leaves school.

Information about your loan is submitted to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), which is the database where you may view your entire federal loan history. Please visit www.nslds.ed.gov to view your borrowed loan amounts, disbursement dates, and who your federal loan servicer is as well as their contact information. The federal loan servicer is assigned by the Department of Education, and they handle matters related to billing and repayment of your loans. If you have questions about changing your repayment plan, loan consolidation, if you qualify for loans forgiveness, please talk to your servicer.

We suggest you utilize Federal Student Aid’s Repayment Estimator to see approximately how much a month you will owe.

Graduate PLUS Loan

In addition to Federal Direct Unsubsidized loans, graduate students may also borrow a Graduate PLUS Loan. The Graduate PLUS Loan allows graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of education minus other Financial Aid received. The PLUS loan requires a credit check that is valid for 180 days, and the student is notified immediately after applying whether they are approved or denied. If the credit check leads to a denial, students have 2 options:

Obtain an endorser who does not have an adverse credit history. An endorser is someone who agrees to repay the Direct PLUS Loan if you cannot repay it.

Document to the satisfaction of the U.S. Department of Education that there are extenuating circumstances related to your adverse credit history.

With either option 1 or option 2, you also must complete “PLUS Counseling” for PLUS loan borrowers on the www.StudentLoans.gov website.

Interest Rate and Origination Fee

The interest rate for Federal Direct PLUS Loans depends on when the loan was first disbursed. Visit the Federal Student Aid website for information about current and past rates. Interest rates are determined each spring for new loans being made for the upcoming award year, which runs from July 1 to the following June 30. Each loan has a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan.

The Department of Education charges an "Origination fee" on all Direct PLUS Loans. The loan fee is a percentage of the loan amount and is proportionately deducted from each loan disbursement. See the Federal Student Aid Website for the current loan fee percentages.

Repayment for Graduate PLUS Loans begins six months after a student leaves school or drops below half-time enrollment. Information about your loans is submitted to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), which is the database where you may view your entire federal loan history. Please visit www.nslds.ed.gov to view your borrowed loan amounts, disbursement dates, and who your federal loan servicer is as well as their contact information. The federal loan servicer is assigned by the Department of Education, and they handle matters related to billing and repayment of your loans. If you have questions about changing your repayment plan, loan consolidation, if you qualify for loans forgiveness, please talk to your servicer.

We suggest you utilize Federal Student Aid’s Repayment Estimator while you are in school to see approximately how much a month you will owe when you graduate or leave UCSB.

Federal Perkins Loan

The Federal Perkins Loan Program Extension Act, enacted on December 18, 2015, mandates that the Federal Perkins Loan program be extended through September 30, 2017. As part of the extension, institutions are required to provide information (disclosures) to students before making a first disbursement of a Perkins loan.

The required disclosures are as follows:

The Federal Perkins loan program expires on September 30, 2017. No new loans will be granted after this date, and future extensions to the Perkins Loan program are prohibited.

The repayment and forgiveness benefits that are available to Direct Loan borrowers are not available to Perkins loan borrowers.

Perkins loan borrowers are eligible to consolidate (combine) their Perkins Loan(s) into a Direct Consolidation Loan. A Direct Consolidation Loan allows students to consolidate (combine) multiple federal education loans into one loan. To learn about the benefits and process of Direct Loan Consolidation, visit this link: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/consolidation

Interest Rate and Repayment

The interest rate is 5%. The interest does not accrue until repayment begins. Repayment begins nine months after the student graduates, leaves school, or drops to less than half-time.

When repaying your Federal Perkins Loan, you may want to consider loan consolidation. Loan consolidation is one of the most important financial decisions that you will make in your lifetime. The UCSB Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships recommends that you research your options carefully. Visit Direct Consolidation Loans for more information.

Exit Requirements

When you leave UCSB, you must complete the Perkins Loan Exit Counseling. You should expect to receive an email notification from ECSI Heartland with instructions on how to complete this requirement.

Private Loans

Private loans can help to fill the gap between the cost of education and the amount of other Financial Aid offered. These loans are provided by private lenders for those students who need to borrow funds in excess of the yearly maximums for the federal loan programs. Most lenders will take applicants' credit history into consideration when evaluating applicants’ eligibility. Students may be eligible for these loans which have varying criteria (interest rates, minimum monthly repayments, etc.). They are not federally guaranteed student loans.

Students have the right and the ability to select the private loan lender of their choice. We highly recommend that students exhaust their federal Direct Loan eligibility before pursuing funds through an private loan. Also, be aware that parents of dependent students are able to borrow up to the complete cost of education through the federal Direct PLUS Loan program.

Federal student loans are available to most students regardless of income and provide a range of repayment options including income-based repayment plans and loan forgiveness benefits, which other education loans are not required to provide.

To start your search, the UC Office of the President has put together a list of recommended lenders. You are not required to use any of the lenders on the list. They are simply provided for your convenience. Per HEOA guidelines, our office adheres to the UC Student Loan Code of Conduct. If you have specific questions related to your credit history, you should contact the private loan lenders at the numbers provided on the web site listed below:

How to Apply

You can apply for a maximum of $1,000. Once processed, the loan will be issued as a paper check that you must pick up from the BARC Office between 3 PM - 4 PM on the following business day after you apply for the loan.

How It Works

The Emergency Loan charge will appear on your BARC account. Your pending Financial Aid will cover this charge when the aid credits to your BARC account.

Teaching Assistant (TA) Loans

Teaching Assistant (TA) Loans are available from our office to alleviate financial hardships experienced by Teaching Assistants during their initial period of employment.

How It Works

TAs starting their first quarter of teaching can borrow up to the amount of their first month's salary and repay that amount with their subsequent paychecks. One-third (1/3) of the amount borrowed over the next three months will be charged to BARC to repay the loan.

Eligibility

To apply for a TA Loan, you must:

Be a Teaching Assistant (TA) or Research Assistant

Be within your first quarter of employment as a TA. TAs that were employed by the University in a prior academic year are not eligible for the TA loan

How to Apply

TAs must provide our office with a letter of employment from their department that includes:

Initial quarter of their TAship

Their monthly salary

A statement that they are not eligible for an advance from their department

TA Loans may be requested up to 30 days before the first day of instruction of the quarter in which the TAship begins. The last day to apply for a loan is the last day of the month in which the TA begins their initial period of employment.

Deferment and Forbearance

If you are unable to make your loan payments, you may want to consider deferment or forbearance. Visit the following websites for deferment or forbearance information related to specific types of loans: